2002:1578 - TOBERDALY, Offaly

This excavation revealed a substantial wooden platform (1.5m by 4.4m) situated in a larger complex of natural and archaeological wood (see No. 1564, Excavations 2002).

Once excavation began, it become obvious that this site was part of the larger complex. It lay 17m south-west of the site excavated under licence 02E1200 (No. 1577, Excavations 2002) and 15m north-west of the site excavated under licence 02E1199 (No. 1576, Excavations 2002), at the southern extent of the archaeological complex. Most of the wood in the cutting was concentrated in a 1m length alongside the drain. The site, 0.6m below the field surface, comprised 85% roundwood and 15% brushwood, which appeared to have been laid in a haphazard manner. The eastern end of the cutting was composed of a series of densely laid transverse roundwoods. The roundwoods were oriented east–west and were up to three layers deep, overlying a small amount of longitudinal brushwood. Some of the roundwood elements reached 4.2m in exposed length, and the average diameter was 0.12m. The structure changed in the centre of the cutting, with the roundwoods running underneath an area of longitudinal heavy brushwood. The brushwood was oriented south-west/north-east and was 2m wide. There was no definite order to the longitudinal elements. The western side of the cutting was very disorganised and irregular in appearance. A series of light brushwood oriented south-west/north-east on this side of this site was uncovered. It is therefore possible that the site is a platform that is connected to the structure excavated at 02E1199 (to the south-east, No. 1576, Excavations 2002), and to the complex, by a light brushwood track, as is the case with the platform 02E1198 (No. 1564, Excavations 2002). The wood has been identified as birch and pine. Much of the pine is splintered and twisted, giving the impression that all available wood was used in the construction.

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